Around the globe, commercial wireless communication services such as cellular phone services and data services are proliferating onto an increasing number of RF bands. These RF bands generally represent RF spectrum allocated to such use by governmental authorities.
In the United States, for example, cellular and data services are currently available on the cellular band or Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) band and the Personal Communication Service (PCS) band. In addition, the unlicensed WiFi (802.11x) and Bluetooth bands are also available for providing wireless services. The WiFi band operates at approximately 2450 MHz and 5800 MHz at the industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) radio bands, and Bluetooth operates at approximately 2450 MHz, also in the ISM bands. The Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) band has also recently become available for providing commercial wireless services; and MediaFLO™ is a relatively new wireless technology to broadcast data to portable devices. In the United States, the MediaFLO™ system uses frequency spectrum at approximately 700 Mhz.
To more fully utilize multiple RF bands, it is desirable to have a portable, multi-band wireless device that is capable of transmitting and receiving signals on different RF bands. A multi-band wireless device represents an integration of various wireless technologies into a single portable device. Unfortunately, conventional approaches to integrating certain wireless technologies within portable devices have proven to be relatively costly in terms of components, power consumption, and physical size.